THE DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



259 



vested justify the extra expenditure? I believe that if a man makes a 

 business of raising grain for market, it does; otherwise, it does not. 



Conservation of Moisture. 



"Some people say it is impossible to keep deep ploM'^ed land in 

 good tilth. My experience of thirty years in this matter is exactly 

 the opposite, and I farm chiefly in clay loam. The deep plowed soil 

 takes longer to bake and settle into a solid condition, holds more 

 moisture without running off, and conserves more moisture in the 

 sub-soil, and good tilth depends primarily on the right amount of mois- 

 ture. Deep plowed land needs less cultivation, for instance, corn land 

 plowed ten to twelve inches and cultivated twice, will yield nearly 

 twice as much as land plowed seven inches and cultivated all summer. 



Causes of Failure. 



"My experience with sod is, that if you plow it three or four 

 inches, Kansas and Nebraska fashion, it dries out and does not rot 

 and sowing anything on it is like trying to raise a crop on a rag 

 carpet." 



Soil Treatment. 



"We disc our sod land when wet in the summer or fall, getting 

 down if possible about three inches, than plowing five inches deeper, 

 making eight inches in all, then disking again and fallow until spring, 

 then disk and harrow unt'l as fine as old land before planting. Sod 

 treated in this manner, holds moisture wonderfully well, rots perfectly 

 and will raise a first class crop of anything. 



"At a depth of eight inches, the plow gets below the grass mat, and 

 throws up enough earth to help make a better seed bed than w^hen 

 plow^ed shallow. 



Wheat-Rye. 



"If winter wheat or rye crops are desired, they can be planted on 

 sod prepared in this manner even in the fall and will usually produce 

 fair crops. 



Irrigating Not Necessary. 



"Some of our agricultural men are in favor of providing our set- 

 tlers with wells, to irrigate a few acres. Now I believe myself that 

 if a man has no confidence in dry farming he will never make a dry 

 farmer. As soon as a man understands the business he has no use 

 whatever for irrigating, because he can raise crops more cheaply than 

 by irrigated farming. 



Alfalfa. 



"My alfalfa costs me in actual work about 75 to 90 cents a ton in 

 the stock. It costs the irrigator in labor and water from $1.90 to $2.00. 

 The same with all crops where land is cheap and plentiful, — the ad- 

 vantage of irrigation being to produce a heavy yield on a limited area. 



